Strawberries and Pickles
by hasapi
Summary: [WIP] He had made her promise that if there were any ‘consequences’ of their night together that she would tell him immediately. So she knew she would have to adhere to the promise, because she was a Weasley and that was what Weasleys did.
1. Prologue

_Strawberries and Pickles_  
by hasapi

  
  


Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

  
  


_Prologue_

At least, Ginny Weasley reasoned to herself, she wasn't married anymore. Being sued for adultery was not a good thing, especially in the Wizarding world. A divorce process usually took at least six months, sometimes as much as two years if one of the parties were earning more than sixty thousand galleons a year. Not to mention the talk. If there hadn't been any adultery on either side and there weren't any children, it was immediately speculated that someone didn't have the biological capabilities to create life. And seeing as how Seamus Finnigan had always been seen by the general Hogwarts population as a very 'virile' young man, the blame had been placed on her.

Even though she had half-believed the rumors herself, that she was barren, she now knew that to be impossible. And how did she know that? Well, it was very simple, really. Even the spell said so. Ginny glanced down at the page again, cringing. _Are You Pregnant? A Simple Spell Is All It Takes to Know!_ Well, she'd performed the spell, and two seconds later the tip of her wand had glowed blue, indicating that she was indeed pregnant.

She sat down on the bed. Hard. It couldn't be true. It could NOT be true. There was no way she could be pregnant for the first time after five years of marriage with the child of a man she wasn't married to! Then again, as she'd realized earlier, at least they hadn't been married when she'd gotten pregnant. Seamus may have been able to appeal, though for what reason she really had no idea; she didn't have any money, and he knew that. She'd been a housewife during their life together, and had enjoyed it. At least for the first few years. After three years and no child, however, things had started to get tense.

At first, Seamus would come home in a wonderful mood and sweep her into his arms, pecking her on the forehead while she giggled. Then they would eat dinner and talk about things, anything—but mostly about their family, or what would be their family. They'd been ready to get started right away, and they had. After their third anniversary, however, things had started to break down. Seamus was no longer in a wonderful mood when he came home, and their discussions tended to stop about five minutes in, usually when she mentioned something about children.

It stayed like that for another one and a half years, though they still slept together and ate together and appeared in public together, like a good couple should. Finally Ginny confronted him about it, saying they should act like adults and discuss the subject. They had realized that the reasons they had gotten married no longer existed—quite frankly, they didn't love each other anymore. So Ginny had moved in with her parents and Seamus had kept the house, and they had started the divorce proceedings. 

She had never expected it to take so long. Seamus wasn't very helpful, letting his lawyer do all the talking. Ginny struggled through it the best she could, but by that one Monday afternoon, she just could not take it any longer: she had to get out. So she went to the Hogshead, where she knew they had a harder liquor than what she would be able to find anywhere else. 

And very unexpectedly, she had met someone else there, coming for a similar reason, though it was much more innocent than hers. She was only grateful that they hadn't used one of the rooms in the Hogshead, as she knew how disgusting they were.

Why? She wondered. Why had she done it? He had been one of her best friends at Hogwarts, he'd helped in the Order of the Phoenix later, he had been one of the people primarily responsible for the fall of Voldemort and the later capture of the rest of his Death Eaters—and he was now a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where they had both been students for seven years, albeit not the same seven years. One scene of their meeting—one of the only ones she could remember—came back in very clear detail…

"So," he said uncomfortably, "What have you been doing the past five years?" He was buttoning his shirt, not looking at her.

Ginny crossed her arms, answering, "Oh, you know, the usual; I was married for five years, got divorced yesterday, slept with you last night. That about sums it up," she said, glancing around his bedroom for her shoes. She spotted one of them halfway under the bed and went after it. "What about you?"

"Not much," he said. "So you were married five years, then? Seamus, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Ginny replied, tying her shoe and looking for the other. "Right out of school and not a thing to show for it," she said bitterly. "Do you know I earned three NEWTs? Transfiguration, Muggle Studies, and Charms. I never did a thing with them."

"Hey, Ginny," he said, putting a hand on her arm. "It couldn't have been that bad. I'm sure you and Seamus loved each other."

"Sure," she replied, looking away so he wouldn't see the tears gathering in her eyes. "We did for the first few years at least... But when we didn't have any children, he just... He just didn't seem to love me anymore," she said, unable to suppress a sob.

She suddenly felt his arms come around her, and she leaned into him. "It's all right, Ginny," he whispered, rubbing her back. 

"Thanks," she said when she'd calmed down, and pulled away. 

"No problem," he smiled lopsidedly at her. 

So what was she supposed to do now? It had been five and a half weeks since they'd parted ways, and only now had she had the presence of mind to perform the test. According to the book, she would have been able to tell after one week at the latest, but she hadn't even remembered (because they had talked about it) the possibility until now. She'd already performed the test five times, and she had no doubt she would be performing it at least ten, if not fifteen, times more. 

He had made her promise that if there were any 'consequences' of their night together that she would tell him immediately. So she knew she would have to adhere to the promise, because she was a Weasley and that was what Weasleys did. But she couldn't…she couldn't tell him yet. She had to get her thoughts under control first and figure out how she was going to do this. 

How, she wondered, yet again, was she going to tell Neville Longbottom that she was pregnant with his child?


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own no characters or places or anything that was created by J. K. Rowling; 'tis only the plot I hold any influence over!

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_Strawberries and Pickles_

_Chapter 1_

Ginny knocked on the door of the greenhouse, grateful that Professor McGonagall had found her in front of the school. If she hadn't, she feared she would have searched the entire castle before realizing that, as the Herbology instructor, Neville would probably be in the greenhouses at this time of day. The Headmistress had also mentioned, with one of those annoyingly secret smiles of hers that she had inherited from Dumbledore, that Neville was free for an hour, so she had better hurry up and find him.

She had to know. She _was_ Dumbledore's replacement, after all, and seemed to have gotten much of the old Headmaster's mannerisms upon her assumption of the Headmistress role. How McGonagall knew, Ginny didn't know. She hadn't even known herself until a week before, and she hadn't thought to tell anyone until Hermione had knocked her out of her stupor. It had been nice to have someone else's opinion. She had spent weeks after her divorce just staring out the window, wondering whether she had done something horribly wrong or if it was just the natural progression of life—or some such thing.

"Come in," came Neville's voice. It was deeper than it had been at Hogwarts. Deeper, even, than it had been while they were in the Order of the Phoenix together. It had only been two years, but it seemed like ten. So much had changed in such a seemingly short period of time that it was, quite simply, mind-boggling.

She opened the door and squared her shoulders, searching for Neville's mop of brown hair. A small smile crossed her face, looking at him. He wasn't facing her—he no doubt thought it was one of the teachers—and at the moment she was extremely grateful, as it gave her a bit of time to collect herself. He had grown since Hogwarts. That much was obvious. He'd never been tall, and he still wasn't, but she supposed that didn't really matter. Neither was the fact that he'd never been as thin as Harry or Blaise…or Seamus.

But she really shouldn't be standing here, comparing Neville to her ex-husband.

Because that was what he was now. Seamus was her ex-husband, a part of her past. And somehow, Neville was going to be a part of her future.

She just had to figure out how to tell him.

Ginny cleared her throat, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers. It was still slightly damp from the bath Hermione had helped her with. Her breathing hitched when Neville turned around. He had a smudge of dirt on his nose that made him look five years younger—and that wasn't exactly a bad thing.

"Ginny," Neville said, nodding at her. He swallowed, motioning to one of the benches. "Won't you sit down?"

She was tempted. Oh, so tempted. It would have been so easy to simply sit down, but… "I can't," she said. "I have to say this standing up, or I'm not going to say it at all."

"Okay." Neville crossed his arms, waiting for her to continue. She wondered if he had noticed that he'd widened his stance.

"I-I…" She couldn't say it. There was _no_ way she could say it. Saying it would be admitting it. Admitting it to Hermione had been bad enough—admitting it to Neville would be opening the floodgates. She only hoped he would still be alive after her brothers were through with him.

The thought of her brothers going after Neville was enough of a laugh to get her to smile, at least a bit. It was also enough for Neville to prod, "Ginny?"

"Sorry," she gave him an apologetic smile. "This is hard."

He nodded, swallowing again.

"I-er, that is, I'm," she cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She was going to do this. She was going to say it and get it over with. "I'm pregnant."

She heard a thump and opened her eyes. "Neville?" she asked weakly. He was sitting on the bench next to her, staring into space. His cheeks were pale.

"They're going to kill me," he whispered. "Your brothers are going to bloody well murder me."

"They're not that bad," Ginny said, placing a hand on his arm and smiling.

Neville raised his brows at her. "You didn't live with Ron for seven years."

Ginny raised a brow. "You're right, I didn't—I lived with him for ten."

A bit of color flooded back into Neville's cheeks, and Ginny felt a rush of relief. "Yes, well," he said quickly, "you didn't hear him go on about how he was going to kill the person who tried to go too far with you. Didn't you notice how Seamus and I barely ever looked at you in your sixth year? Ron was seriously considering murdering Dean Thomas for feeling you up that one time he stumbled in on you two. And then when you dated Blaise Zabini…" He shook his head. "It was horrible."

Ginny told herself it wasn't funny. It was infuriating. Ron had tried to control her life in her fifth and sixth years. So he'd warned Neville and Seamus off her? Lot of good that had done. She'd married Seamus and slept with Neville. It was a good thing he hadn't warned Harry off or they'd probably have a love-child by now.

Then again, it was _Neville_ who was the father of that child, wasn't it?

Well, Harry would have been the disgruntled ex-lover then.

"Gods, why didn't we _think_?" Neville whispered.

"As I recall it," Ginny said, "not that I _do _recall a lot of it, I didn't want to think in the first place."

"I'm never not thinking again as long as I live," Neville declared, nodding his head for emphasis.

Ginny didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say, for one thing. For another... "What are we going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I mean, I guess we could get married…"

Ginny shook her head harshly. "No, definitely no. I just got divorced six weeks ago. I'm not going through that again."

"All right. That seems fair enough. But, Ginny," Neville started, "you know that you're going to face a lot of—"

"I'm going to face a lot of everything," Ginny interrupted him. "I'm going to have to face people telling me I'm a slut, people telling me I should have used some kind of birth control, I'm going to face my _mother_, asking me why I got pregnant AFTER I got divorced. My brothers, asking who the father is; I'll be facing taunts and catcalls and _everything_.

"I'm not stupid," Ginny added quietly.

"I never said you were."

Ginny gave him a small smile. "Thanks. That really means a lot. I know what being a single mother means, but I'm ready to take responsibility for my actions."

Neville looked her in the eyes, searching for something—whether he found it or not, she didn't know, but he smiled at her just a few seconds later. "I have a class in a half hour," he said, glancing at his watch. "Would you like to have dinner with me in Hogsmeade afterwards?"

"Sure," Ginny said, smiling warmly at him. "I'd love to."

Dinner certainly wasn't horrid. At least, the company wasn't. The food, however, was rather lacking. Ginny had a difficult time keeping it down.

"So, what are you going to do, being a single mother and all that?" Neville asked, sipping his Butterbeer. "For work, I mean."

"I don't know," Ginny said slowly. It was a startling revelation. What _could_ she do? It had been five years since her graduation from Hogwarts and she hadn't done anything. She was a twenty-three year old woman with nothing to show for it. Oh, she was going to have a child, but she certainly didn't have a husband. "All I've done for the last five years is cook and clean and come up with baby names." She gave a low chuckle. "Well, this one'll have a good name, if nothing else," she said, patting her belly softly.

She looked up to see Neville staring at her hand and she stilled it, waiting as he pulled his gaze back up to meet hers. He gave her one of his disarmingly lopsided smiles and she felt her stomach flip. Now was not the time to be jumping into another relationship, she chided herself.

"I can hardly believe it," he said softly. "Gran will be happy. When are we going to let everyone know?"

"I want to wait as long as possible," was her quick response. "I can't tell them before I've moved out of the Burrow or I'll never be able to leave. Which means I need to get a job of some sort."

"Well, we can both keep our eyes out for something. And Ginny," Neville started, reaching across the table to grab the hand that had been resting next to her tea. He rubbed his thumb across the back of it, and she felt another flutter of feeling as he held her gaze. "I don't want you to hesitate if there's anything I can do to make this better for you. You're one of my best friends."

"Thank you, Neville. I will hold you to that," Ginny smiled at him.

One of his best friends, eh? That was good to know. He'd always been one of hers, ever since their time together in the Order of the Phoenix. Why had they slept together? Throughout the years she had never really thought of him as more than a friend. Oh, there had been times, when he'd worn this outfit or when she'd seen him at a certain time with a certain expression, that she'd wondered if she did have a smidgeon of attraction to the stocky wizard.

It must have been the alcohol. She groaned inwardly. It didn't matter how long she lived, she was never, ever, _ever_ drinking shots at the Hogshead again.

"I'd better get back to the school," Neville said, looking to windows at the front of the building. Ginny followed his gaze and was surprised to see that the sky's bright blue had begun fading into sunset.

"I'm going to stay and finish my tea," she offered. She wasn't ready to go home yet, and she needed to use the Floo at the Three Broomsticks in any case.

Standing up, he walked over to Ginny's side of the table and squatted down so that he was looking up at her. He hadn't let go of her hand. "Thank you for telling me, Ginny," he said simply. "It means a lot." As he stood up, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

She watched as he walked over to Rosmerta to settle the bill (something he'd had to argue with her over; she hadn't budged until he pointed out that she was eating for two, and one of them was partly his fault), cursing her Weasley heritage as she felt the blush on her face. Once that was finished he walked out the door, throwing one last, lopsided smile at her over his shoulder. Taking a sip of tea, Ginny sighed.

There wasn't much she remembered about that night. The walk to the Hogshead hadn't been easy, but she had tried everything else to calm down so she'd walked the distance and figured a few shots of liquor wouldn't hurt. When she'd met Neville there… it had been so easy to talk to him. They'd always been friends, and apparently they had considered each other as best friends for a while as well. She'd been feeling unloved and unwanted that night, and the alcohol had made her gutsy. So when she'd seen a flash of lust in his eyes after giving him a decent view of her cleavage, she had boldly reached under the table and squeezed his upper leg.

One more shot and all of her memories became blurry. Leaving the pub – pressing herself against him and kissing him – she'd made the first move, of that much she was sure – the long walk to Hogwarts that had them both panting for more reasons than one – sneaking past the Bloody Baron and into Neville's quarters. The shots had really gotten to her by then and all she could remember was that it wasn't the best sex she'd ever had and been over very quickly. But it had done what she'd needed it to do. It had reminded her that she was, indeed, a desirable witch. The only problem was that she'd then spent the next five weeks depressed because she was afraid she'd ruined the friendship between them.

Apparently, that hadn't been the case at all. Instead she'd just gotten pregnant. Even though they had talked about the possibility, she had never seriously considered it. She had honestly thought she was barren, that she couldn't have children. She'd believed what everyone else had assumed, because in the end, it had been easier than pointing the blame Seamus' way. Now, of course, everyone would know that it wasn't her fault, that it had never been her fault. She was pregnant, Neville was the father, she'd refused his hasty offer of marriage, and she was embarking on single motherhood with nary a knut to her name.

She was surprised to find that she had finished her tea, and took a deep breath. It was time to head home, then, and figure out what she was going to do with her life.

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**Author's Note:** I hope you're all enjoying this. This story has always been one of my favorites. I put a lot of effort into the prologue, and the first thousand words or so of this chapter were written since about the same time. The romance will be gradual. I've always loved Ginny's character, and Neville/Ginny has been a particular favorite of mine since I read the fifth book, so I'm going to take my time with them. This is, first and foremost, a romance with some actual plot thrown in for good measure.

To answer a reviewer's question, this IS in the same realm of _Last Will and Testament_. However, it won't be focused on the Draco/Hermione relationship very much at all (though you will see them later), as this is a story about Ginny and Neville!


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